I agree Susan. Its a movie for goodness sake! Why does live ammunition require to be used in the first place? I wonder if its common across the board of movie making?
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By live, I assume you mean blanks which go bang rather than bullets which tend to kill people?
Probably easier to have a realistic sound at the time of filming rather than trying to dub it in afterwards.
Alec Baldwin has admitted his acting career may be over after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
“It could be,” the 63-year-old actor said in an interview to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, adding that he did not care.
Mr Baldwin also said he “didn’t pull the trigger” of the gun during the incident on 21 October in New Mexico.
“Someone put a live bullet in a gun” he said. “I know it’s not me”.
The ABC interview was broadcast in the US on Thursday evening.
“I don’t know what happened on that set. I don’t know how that bullet arrived in that gun. I don’t know,” Mr Baldwin said. “But I’m all for doing anything that will take us to a place where this is less likely to happen again.”
The actor said that during the rehearsal on 21 October Hutchins was directing his every move.
“She’s guiding me through how she wants me to hold the gun for this angle. I’m holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit.”
To get the shot, the actor said he needed to cock the gun - but not fire it.
“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger. I cock the gun. I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off,” he said.
Cocking a loaded gun which is pointing at someone seems risky, even if it’s only loaded with blanks, which can still injure and kill.
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Exactly!
I don’t know anything about guns so have no idea what else to say, other than its an utter tragedy and I hope it never happens again. With the tech available today, you would think they could go through the motions and add in the blood and guts afterwards, if required.
Listened to an actress on TV yesterday, and she said there were loads of minor accidents with guns, despite them having blanks in them, on stage and on filmsets.
Hopefully this horrible accident will tighten things up considerably.
There’s a lot more here:
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What I don’t understand is that he was told it was a “cold gun” which means it wasn’t live, yet it obviously was. So the fact you have such phrases indicating live or not, means its a common occurrence to have live weapons on set. Its incredible this hasn’t happened before, if that’s the case.
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AFAIK, there have been “accidents” before, some recorded, some not … this one, obviously, could not be covered up … 
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Baldwin is one of several defendants named in the wrongful death lawsuit.
Lawyers for the Hutchins family said she would still be alive if crew members had not cut corners.
Tuesday’s lawsuit was filed in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico on behalf of Ms Hutchins’ husband Matthew and son Andros, and seeks unspecified damages.
They claimed Baldwin and others “failed to perform industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules”.
The lawsuit also faults producers for “cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and ignoring numerous complaints of safety violations”.
Other defendants named include assistant director David Halls, armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and prop master Sarah Zachry.
Mr Halls and Ms Gutierrez-Reed have both faced complaints in the past that they did not adhere to on-set safety measures.
The criminal investigation into the incident is still ongoing with the Santa Fe Sherriff’s Office, which is trying to determine how live ammunition got on to the set. Investigators have not ruled out criminal charges.
Several lawsuits relating to the film set have been filed, and Baldwin was previously named in one filing over negligence.
No criminal charges have yet emerged, but police have not ruled it out. Baldwin has not yet responded to the latest lawsuit.
Ongoing …
A lawsuit filed against Mr Baldwin, producers and others, had alleged violations of industry standards.
The exact terms of the settlement, which is subject to court approval, have not been disclosed.
In a statement, Mr Hutchins said that “all the original principal players” would be involved when filming resumes, which he said would be a way to “pay tribute” to his late wife’s final work. “I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame,” he added. “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident.”
The film’s producers were fined and strongly criticised by authorities for failing to follow safety guidelines. The makers of Rust showed “plain indifference to recognised hazards associated with use of firearms on set”, according to the New Mexico Environment Department. The agency issued the maximum $136,793 (£105,000) fine to Rust Movie Productions.
Almost a year on from the tragedy, the criminal investigation still hasn’t concluded.
Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the Office of the First Judicial District Attorney for New Mexico said in a statement: “The proposed settlement announced today in Matthew Hutchins’ wrongful death case against Rust movie producers, including Alec Baldwin, in the death of Halyna Hutchins will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis’ ongoing investigation or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case. While civil suits are settled privately and often involve financial awards, criminal cases deal only in facts. If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought. No one is above the law.”
Still ongoing …
Actor Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on a film set when he fired a prop gun.
Baldwin had been rehearsing a scene for the Western film Rust when the shooting happened at a ranch near Sante Fe, New Mexico in October 2021.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film’s armorer, will also be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Neither have commented on the charges.
On Thursday, Santa Fe’s District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced in a statement that charges would be filed against the pair by the end of the month.
“Actor and producer Alec Baldwin and armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter,” the statement read. “I have determined that there is sufficient evidence.”
“On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice,” she said.
Both face up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 (£4,040) fine if convicted. They will be tried by a jury, prosecutors said.
Somebody was careless or, worse, reckless and should be held to account.
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More:
Film director Joel Souza was also wounded in the shooting, but prosecutors said no charges would be filed in connection with that.
The film’s assistant director David Halls entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanour charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, prosecutors said. He will spend six months serving probation.
Mr Baldwin has also filed a lawsuit against several people involved with the film, including Ms Gutierrez Reed and Mr Halls, alleging that they both failed to check the gun carefully.
Ah, the old blame game … 
The documents released on Tuesday detailing the charges - first announced on 19 January - portray a chaotic set with a reckless approach to gun safety.
Mr Baldwin was “distracted” talking to family members on his mobile phone during training on how to operate the prop gun, Robert Shilling, a special investigator for the district attorney’s office, wrote in a statement of probable cause filed with the manslaughter charges.
The charging document outlines at least a dozen “acts or omissions of recklessness” leading up to the shooting, including:
- Not using a replica firearm for an unscheduled rehearsal
- Letting the armourer leave the set against protocol
- Deviating from the practice of only receiving the gun from the armourer
- Not dealing with safety complaints on set
- Not performing required safety checks with the armourer, who was hired without adequate certification
Mr Baldwin has previously denied responsibility for the shooting. He argued in media interviews that he did not pull the trigger on the gun and that it had just “gone off”, prosecutors alleged. But photos and videos from the Rust shooting depict Mr Baldwin practising drawing and firing the weapon with his finger inside the trigger guard and on the trigger multiple times, prosecutors said.
In addition, officials with the FBI found the gun could not be fired without pulling the trigger, according to a report the agency sent to the Santa Fe County Sherriff’s Office.
The 30 Rock actor has filed a lawsuit against Ms Gutierrez-Reed and other people involved with the film, alleging they failed to check the gun carefully.
Ms Gutierrez-Reed has said she had checked that the rounds she loaded in the prop gun were dummies before it was handed to the film’s assistant director Dave Halls, who then handed it to Mr Baldwin and told him it was an unloaded gun.
So … the dummies transformed into live rounds in the act of passing the weapon on …
I really don’t know what to think about this case , who ever loaded that bullet wanted someone dead and was the young actress the intended victim I wonder .
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That “prop gun” was a real gun. During breaks from filming the crew would go outside and shoot cans with it for fun with real bullets, then empty the chamber and load it with blanks for filming. Their safety officer quit over the consistent violations on safety with not just the prop guns but just about everything else, leaving Baldwin as the guy responsible.
Baldwin knew full well this was a real gun and had been used with real bullets frequently and he didn’t put the gun under any control or supervision, complete with safety protocols and checks with qualified firearms specialists (which he is required to do).
Any gun user knows damn well you never ever point a gun at someone unless all the safety checks have been done previously and even then, only after its been checked again by a second person and the person the gun is going to be fired at. Even then … and even with a blank loaded, you never discharge it close to someone - especially the proximity Baldwin did. The shards splinter from the blank and also the flame that follows it extends through the gun barrel, including a large amount of air pressure that can seriously injure someone. Nobody in their right mind would point a starting gun at point plank range and pull the trigger - this was no different.
He’s got no excuses for this, he killed his crew member because he is negligent, incompetent and stupid.
He should serve life in jail for it.
here is some more info on blanks - they are not toys, believe me
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After reading What Bread just wrote , I too wandered was this a deliberate act by someone who wanted the victim dead …
Seems there is more to this than meets the eye .
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I don’t think he meant to kill her, he was just utterly incompetent and totally stupid.
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Most people in the USA seem to be very casual around guns.
That’s not my experience. The ones who are are often the ones in the news.